


The Stranger

by Vinnocent



Series: Morphing Human [6]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Being Human (UK), Being Human (US/Canada)
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Book 7: The Stranger, Dubious Consent, F/M, Familicide, Gen, M/M, Murder, Panic Attacks, Psychological Trauma, Self-Sacrifice, Slurs, Suicide, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 05:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1293580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Animorphs are approached by an other-worldly stranger with amazing powers and an unbelievable offer, but he's not the stranger you were expecting. (loosely based on Animorphs #7: The Stranger)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Questions for Killers (Rachel)

Hi.

My name is Rachel, and I'm a serial killer.

I don't really mean to be. It was never a goal of mine. It just sort of happened. There were times I didn't think I had a choice in the matter. But I think that I do. I think I can be better. I want to be better. I want a chance to try.

I am being better. I'm fighting the Yeerks. I'm helping hold back an alien invasion.

With murder.

Okay...

I know you're thinking, but…

You know what? You try doing it. You try being me. You do what I do. Serve my purpose. You do all that and try to not be a monster.

It's different when I do this.

It is.

It has to be.

* * *

"DADDY! DADDY!" rang out the ear-splitting chorus, quickly followed by what sounded like a stampede of elephants. 

I winced, plugging my ears. Sighing, I put the book away and left Naomi's office, where I'd been hoping for some peace. "Hi, Dan," I greeted my ex-ish foster father.

"Hey, Rachel," he said with a smile. "Ready to go to the circus?"

I blinked. "Uh… what now?"

"Circus. Family time," explained Naomi's ex-husband, the brother or Jean's husband, and my only actual attachment to this family branch. "Didn't Naomi tell you?"

"She said you were taking the girls…" I said.

He seemed confused. "But... you're a girl?"

Well, that was awkward. "Uh, yeah, around here when we say 'the girls,' we mean 'Sarah and Jordan.'" I tugged at my ponytail. "I, uh, sort of had plans with friends."

"Well, come on anyway. It'll be a a great day out," he said, quickly recovering his jolly countenance. "Don't make me waste a ticket."

"That angle, huh?" I shrugged and looked around for Sarah's weekend bags, since she usually couldn't carry them all the way to the car. "Sorry, Dan, but I'm not the kind of person who cancels plans. You wouldn't want me to cancel time with you and the girls because Cassie bought movie tickets without my knowledge and guilt-tripped me, would you?" I asked. It was a lie of course. I was totally the kind of person who canceled plans. "Invite Tisha along."

It had the desired effect. Dan frowned. "Okay, well, the things is..."

"Sarah, where are your bags?"

"Mom told us we weren't staying over this weekend," said Jordan.

"What?" I asked. Dan got the girls every other weekend and occasionally an extra weekend if Naomi needed it. Sometimes I went along if he needed a baby-sitter, but more often, Naomi needed me behind as a house-minder.

Dan cleared his throat. "That is actually part of what I had to--"

The phone rang. "Crud, that'll be Cassie. I'm running late." I carefully hugged each girl without breathing in, to sense as little of their blood flow as possible, inwardly reciting all the types of metamorphic rock. "See ya later, Dan."

He just stood there. "Um... yeah..."

* * *

Tobias and I snuck around the back of the new Wendy's. We hadn't hung out as much since some awkwardness a little while ago, but saying Tobias isn't around much is like saying there's less sun in winter. Somehow, I still need to coat myself in sun lotion and swallow enough migraine pills to put down a bull. Though, I will say that Tobias is a vast improvement over sunshine.

"I want you all to know that I'm missing elephants for this," I greeted an osprey, an owl, a peregrine falcon, and my cousin. The birds were scattered in decorative trees, while Jake was stuck hiding in the bushes. They were good hiding bushes; we'd put a gorilla in there before. I supposed we were about to again. "Possibly a dancing bear. It's been a while; I don't know what's in circuses now."

<Yes, openly address the morphs in public. That's not breaking cover or anything.> The osprey fluttered down to the bushes to start demorphing.

I gave him the finger. "This is me giving the finger to the world because I'm such a rebel. Totally not aimed at a specific target."

The osprey swayed its head, probably in an effort to roll its eyes. <Plan is, Rachel, you give the knock. When the guy comes out, knock him out, get him out of the way. We raid again. Try to get out as many humans as possible. If anyone sees shit to fuck up: fuck it up.>

"Wow, what a tactical genius," I snipped.

<Morphers lead as always,> Marco continued. <We don't want Jake and Rachel seen or caught. Tobias has already been seen, but the less he's known, the better. We don't know what they can do to him.>

Tobias rolled his eyes, and I gave him a sympathetic look.

<Another goal is their kandrona generator. We have no idea what it looks like or where it is.> There was some subtle hostility in his voice. Cassie had taken ages to get around to explaining what Elfangor had told her about why Yeerks needed to go to the pool every three days, and that was largely because Ax had already told some of it. <So, again, if you see something that can be fucked up, fuck it up. Keep your ears open for the word "Kandrona." They may try to protect it. That will tell us exactly where it is.>

Cassie turned away from us as she demorphed.

I waited until the three of them had demorphed and until Marco and Cassie were mostly into their battle morphs -- a gorilla and a tiger. I knew Cassie liked the moose better, but she couldn't run down a narrow passage with it. She'd even tried to argue horse over tiger, but in the end, there just wasn't a comparison, and she knew it.

I checked around that there still wasn't anybody approaching before I went to the door and knocked in that stupid pattern like it was second grade and we'd made a new club to exclude a friend we were mad at. I waited.

Nothing happened.

I tried the knob, but it wouldn't turn.

I glanced back at them nervously. Jake tossed the hockey mask to me. Feeling better with a small measure of anonymity, I pulled it on and tried again. After a couple minutes, the door opened.

We really should start expecting other vampires. I would have knocked out and tossed aside a human before they even had time to go from "who's that?" to alarm bells to doing something about it. But a vampire could recognize my mask and draw their Dracon just as fast as I could make my move.

I felt the air sizzle. My mask was gone. I smelled my hair burn.

"And that is the end of the great and mighty Animorphs."

I spun to face… I have no idea what it was. It moved on two legs, body held forward and balanced by a stubby tail. It walked like a bird or a small dinosaur. It did hold its hands up, but they were weak, flimsy things, multiply jointed but obviously designed for very light work (or maybe very low gravity?). The head was surprising for that almost reptilian body: vaguely human in shape, with a narrow lower jaw and wide-set, intelligent, laughing eyes. It was wrinkled, like your thumb after a long bath. Its flesh was a dark purple, almost black. The eyes and mouth were rimmed in green.

The vampire that had fired at me was just standing there. Frozen.

I lifted my hand to my face. My mask was back.

"What the hell are you?" Tobias demanded.

Ax answered, <That is not a species I recognize.> Though, I suppose he wasn't really answering.

<l don't know what species it is, but I think we'd better report it to the Prune Growers Association,> Marco said.

"Oh, Marco the funny one!" the creature cried, slapping its limp hands together. "How's Mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the Yeerk in her head?"

The gorilla was quickly out of the bushes, and he took a swing at the creature. His aim was perfect, but somehow he landed flat on his face.

"What are you?" Jake demanded. I caught the flicker of light as he drew his knife, but he remained crouched in the bushes. "What do you know about us? What do you want?"

"Haven't figured it out yet? Ooh, so slow. Allow me to introduce myself," it said. "I am the Drode. It's a word from my species. It means 'wildcard.'"

<Why are you here?> asked Cassie. Her tiger hunkered down uneasily.

"I'm a representative," it said, spreading those spindly arms.

"Of what?" I asked.

"The Crayak, of course," it said. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What's a--?"

"And my master has sent me to present you an offer." It gestured to the minimum wage vampire. "You can't continue like this. You aren't equipped for a war like this. Six children all on your own?"

<You gonna back us up?> Marco asked incredulously.

"No, of course not. I couldn't kill a sentient creature," it said, laughing. "Not like you lot do."

Jake growled.

<Then what are you here for?> Ax demanded.

"Don't you listen? To present you an offer. To place in a preventative measure, so that you can go on doing the hero thing…" It grinned a lipless smile. "Indefinitely. As long as you need to."

"Well, that sounds ominous," said Tobias.

"Allow me to offer a demonstration," said the Drode, and the vampire-Controller immediately moved again to shoot me.

It was unexpected. I didn't have time to react. I didn't even feel it for a moment. There was just suddenly a quarter-sized hole in my chest. Another appeared my belly. A third on the left side of my chest.

But then they started widening. I was dissolving, like the Andalite ship. Atoms were burning away from my meat. _That_ , I felt. That's what made me scream.

"RACHEL!" Jake made an attack for the Drode, while Marco was already up and moving to stop the vampire-Controller. They got shot, too. Head shots, this time.

I watched a bloody hole suddenly appear as if by some terrible magic in the back of my friend's head. And I heard him scream.

I've killed enough people to know that you don't _usually_ scream with a hole through your brain and blood pouring out. I looked down at myself again. At the unbearable burning.

It was going in reverse. The wound was healing. Same with Jake and Marco. The dissolving had started, but then it had rewound. 

The vampire-Controller was still again. I forced myself to my feet and took the Dracon away. I _might_ have broken some of their fingers doing it.

"Are you getting it now?" asked the Drode. "Or do I need a diagram, a song, and a fuzzy puppet?"


	2. Die Dangerously (Cassie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think what defines life, the beauty of the world, might be that it only last a little while. Whether we die as an infant or live to old age, it’s still short compared to the lifespan of Mother Earth, and even that’s a blink compared to the lifespan of the universe, which itself…
> 
> Well, what I’m saying is that nothing lasts. It passes with a breath. And that’s frightening, but it’s also beautiful.
> 
> My name is Cassie, and I’m not sure, exactly, what the defining trait of humanity is. But I think a good person is someone who looks at that looming clock and decides to do the best they can while they can.
> 
> I’d like to believe that’s what we’re doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Tobias's speech is in italics because it sounds distorted to Cassie.

* * *

“Are you getting it now?” asked the Drode. “Or do I need a diagram, a song, and a fuzzy puppet?”

I didn't know what to think. I felt sick. I felt sick at the way he'd puppeted the Controller. I felt sick at the way he'd used my friends for a gruesome demonstration. I felt sick at the way they'd come back, unnaturally, before my eyes. I felt sick at the fact that part of me would be more comfortable if they'd died instead.

The Drode turned to look directly at me. "Not a team player now, Cassie? No, it's always this way, hasn't it?"

"Rachel!" Jake shouted, pulling himself up from the ground. There was nothing to prove he'd been wounded except the hole in his mask and the blood on his shirt. He pulled his mask off and ran to her. "Rachel, are you okay?"

<I'm peachy if anyone cares,> Marco informed us.

"I'm healed, too," Rachel said.

My tiger morph made a weird sound before I could stop it. Everyone turned to stare, even Ax. "Hairball?" asked the Drode with a wink.

Marco grabbed at him, inexplicably missing again. The Drode seemed to have some sort of impenetrable forcefield. <What the hell are you pulling, you sick fuck?> Marco demanded.

Jake's vampire face was showing again. "You'd offer _that_ to us? You obviously don't know us as well as you think. Take it back!"

"Don't I?" The Drode smirked. "I'm sorry. I promise to pay more attention in the future, so you don't feel so neglected."

Rachel stepped forward, away from Tobias and Jake. Tobias popped next to me and Ax. I think he distrusted the Drode's abilities. "Eight decades of experience has taught us that immortality is a bad thing for us and a worse thing for everyone else," she said. "The last thing we're going to do is turn it up to eleven."

He stepped toward her, and Jake growled viciously. I'd never seen him like that before, but the Drode just ignored him entirely. "Are you sure, Mighty Tool of the Slaying?" asked the Drode. "You realize that you, personally, are facing death?"

Jake's vampire features melted away. He looked at her with very human fear. "Rachel… You… We could discuss this… He… He has a point."

<That is a really big offer to accept,> I said. <Something like that could…> I didn't want to think about all the ways I could end that sentence.

<But we _are_ the only fighters here, > Ax said.

Rachel shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. I've had a good run. We're not fucking with the order any more than it already is. Fix it. Now."

The Drode grinned. "Well, if you insist."

And suddenly, Rachel was back at the door with Tobias standing next to her. Her hockey mask was disintegrated and hair hair burned and fell away in a hunk on the left side, where the vampire-Controller had just barely missed her actual head as she dodged aside. Tobias immediately grabbed the Controller and threw them aside hard enough to knock them out.

<Are we still going ahead with the mission?> asked Ax.

Marco looked around, shoulders hunched as though he expected the Drode to pop out again at any moment. But he was gone from sight. <No. No, I don't think so. Let's go home.>

Jake glanced at Rachel, who was still crouched aside, shaking. "I'll take Rachel ba--"

"Cassie," said Rachel.

"What?"

"I said I was going out with Cassie," Rachel explained. She looked at me. I was already demorphing. "If that's okay?"

<No, it's fine,> I agreed. <But, uh… if you're concerned about cover…>

"What?" she asked.

 _"Your hair…"_ Tobias said.

Rachel reached up and grabbed at her scalp. She then groped at the rest of her hair until she found the missing, charred chunk. She moaned in distress, "Why couldn't I have just died?"

<I think maybe we should all head back to Cassie's,> said Marco as Jake grabbed a backpack, presumably full of clothes, up from the bushes.

* * *

Jake frowned as he shuffled through a drawer in my family's wildlife rehabilitation clinic. "Do you have any scissors that aren't for sheep?" he asked.

"Um… Over with the bandages?" I guessed. I didn't really want to leave Marco's side. He gave every appearance of being fine, but just because Marco _could_ squash a lot down didn't mean he should have to. Or that he should do it alone. Jake and Rachel had each other, and, presently, Rachel even had Tobias comforting her, too. Everyone just assumed Marco didn't need them.

I mean… he'd lived through a Dracon shot to the face.

"You cut hair?" Marco asked. He looked disbelieving.

"I cut Rachel's hair," Jake clarified, shuffling through more drawers. "Salons are full of mirrors, so we learned to take care of it ourselves."

"'Learned' does not cover you," said Rachel. She was still shaking a little bit, but she flashed a big smile. "It wasn't until '43 that I didn't look like I'd fallen hair-first into a scissor pile, and it wasn't until the late seventies that I could actually go into public afterward without fear."

"Oh shut up," Jake grumbled, and I tossed him the comb I'd taken from my room. I'd gotten him scissors, too, but he should have been more specific if he was going to be picky. "I guess these are fine," he said, apparently finding scissors to his liking. He returned to Rachel's side. "She says that like she's ever done a good job with me."

"Boy hair is harder. I don't care what you say," Rachel sulked as Jake impatiently grabbed her head and started combing aside the undamaged hair. I giggled at that, but I was the only one who did. Jake almost sort of smirked at that.

<I do not understand,> said Ax. <Why can you not patronize an establishment with mirrors?>

"Vampires don't have a reflection, Ax," Rachel explained. "And, oddly, that's the characteristic that makes people the most scared."

<That… How is that even possible?>

Rachel shrugged, causing Jake to grumble at her. "Do I look like a scientist to you?"

 _"We can have Jake ask next time he sees the devil,"_ Tobias joked.

"Can we leave my hallucinations out of this?" asked Jake.

Marco stretched out on the haystacks. "This guy… This 'drode' thing. He knew who we were. He had… _powers_."

Jake shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it."

<Nor have I,> said Ax.

"But… he tried to help, didn't he?" I said. "I mean it wasn't a good offer, but he was trying to help."

 _"He didn't try very hard to convince us,"_ Tobias pointed out, and I repeated it for Ax.

"And at the end of everything, it put us right back where we started," Rachel grumbled, shivering. Jake paused for a moment before continuing with cutting off the singed ends.

"But he didn't make it exactly the same, did he?" said Marco, sitting up again. "The first time, Rachel had her mask blown off, and I didn't see the shot, but I smelled--" He hesitated suddenly.

"Burned hair?" I suggested. I nodded. "Me, too. I've been going over it in my head, over and over. I just… did he help or do nothing?"

"He said she was going to die and then she didn't," Jake growled. "What kind of good guy does that?"

"No," said Rachel. "He said I would 'face death'. And I _did_ , both times. But I think Marco's right. I don't remember being shot in the head. But I smelled my hair burn before he reversed everything. I think, technically, you can face death without actually having your life threatened. Like bungee jumping or something."

"So what was the point?" I asked.

 _"He said that 'Drode' means 'Wildcard',"_ Tobias reminded us, and I repeated it for Ax.

Ax agreed, <It is possible that he is not helping us _or_ hurting us. It is possible that he is interfering for his own entertainment. >

"Who would do that?" asked Jake.

"Tourists?" Marco suggested.

"Is that what he is?" I asked. "He said he was a servant of the Crayak. He said he couldn't harm sentient creatures."

"He said he couldn't kill them," Rachel corrected.

 _"Anyone know what a Crayak is?"_ asked Tobias, and Jake repeated it for Ax. No one did.

<But it means that there is another party involved,> said Ax. <Someone giving orders and making rules. Drode is not an uncontrolled chaotic element.>

"I don't know which is worse," Marco grumbled. He glanced over at Jake, who now had Rachel's hair evenly shoulder-length and was merely polishing it up. "Jake: Truth or Dare."

Jake froze momentarily. Then, he continued with Rachel's hair. "Truth," he said, very quietly.

"Is it always going to be just the two of you?" Marco asked.

"You're talking about how I acted?"

"Yes," said Marco. "And… other things."

Jake was quiet for a minute. At last, he answered. "Yes, and no. I'd never turn from her. Never abandon her. Not for anything. That isn't going to change because suddenly there's a war on and a 'bigger picture'." He took a steadying breath and looked across the barn to us. "But I'd like to say the same thing about all of you. I want to grow that sort of relationship with the entire team. Just because I _don't_ put you ahead of her doesn't mean I _want_ to put her ahead of you." He sighed. "As for now… I cannot help eighty years of experience."

Rachel shoved her thumb in her cousin's direction. "What he said."

I checked my wristwatch. "Rachel, if you're done, we should probably get you back home."

Rachel glanced up at Jake, who nodded. As we made our way out of the barn, I heard Jake invite Marco over for _Duke Nukem_. Maybe he wasn't as inconsiderate as I'd thought.

On the way to Rachel's house, we didn't talk about much. Well, besides hair. I had to reassure her a total of seventeen times that her hair looked fine, and "No, not fine like overalls are fine." But when I followed Rachel in through the kitchen door…

"To another city, sweetie. In another state."

It was her dad. Well, not her real dad. The guy who had once played the fatherly part of the human family that had taken her in. He was talking in the next room to his actual daughters.

"A thousand miles away," I heard his ex-wife say.

"Um… congratulations?" said the older of the two girls.

Rachel scowled. "So that's it."

"It's the job, Jordan. It's the way it is."

Rachel turned to me. "Maybe you should go."

"Uh, yeah…" I agreed. "See you later?"

"It's not like I won't see you kids. I know it sounds like a long way and all, but that's why we have jets, right?"

"For shit's sake, Dan," Rachel growled, heading out of the kitchen.

I don't know what I was supposed to do, but it didn't seem right to stay.


	3. Pulling (Rachel backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING: This fic contains implication of teen sexuality involving dubious consent. The character’s backstory was designed to explore vampire mythos, and, while the scenes are not explicit, I do understand that the idea is distasteful to some readers.]

**1917…**

Rachel stumbled after Frank as he pulled her along. "Where are we going?" she asked again.

"You said you were hungry," he finally growled.

"But there's food at the nest," she whimpered. There were so many people around. What if they looked at her? What if they saw the sins on her?

"There _was_ ," he corrected. They approached a house with laughter coming from it. Rachel could hear a record playing. Nora Bayes. "There we go. Plenty of selection here. Go knock on the door. Tell them you're visiting town and you got lost, then ask to use their phone. Fake a call and wait for the pick-up that isn't coming. Thank them for their hospitality. Pick a mark, lure him to privacy, and eat." He yanked Rachel closer. "This is vitally important, Rose--"

"Rachel."

"Whatever. Listen. After you kill him? Leave. Fucking _leave_. Do you hear me? Do not give them time to find you."

Rachel nodded. Frank shoved her toward the house. "Alright, go."

Rachel whimpered but walked up to the house, legs stiff. As she got closer, she could smell it, hear it. Everything that she wanted.

Her hand shook when she tried to rap on the door. She didn't end up making much sound. She forced herself to pound her fist on the door.

The jovial sounds inside quickly muted, then slowly rose again. The door opened. The young man who stood before her was, well, gorgeous. "Hello?" he said, confused.

"I… I'm sorry, I… I'm new to the area, and I… uh…"

"Are you lost?" he asked. "Do you need a phone?"

Rachel nodded quickly. "Yes, that."

He stepped aside and let her in. "Come in. Phone's in the kitchen. I'll show you. I'm Oscar." He gestured to the group of teens as they passed through the living room. "This is Alice, Lawrence, Pauline, Joe, and Henry. Everyone, this is the lost girl who is going to use the phone."

Alice rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she has a name, Oscar. Don't you, doll?"

"I… Rachel?"

"Rachel?" repeated Joe with a smirk. "Rachel what?"

"Thompson?" Rachel answered, confused.

"Come on, leave her alone," Oscar said, laughing. "She needs to call her parents and get home."

"Yes," Rachel agreed. "Yes, I do."

Oscar took her hand and lead her to the kitchen, and Henry whispered something to Alice about what Oscar likes, and she laughed so hard that she snorted. In the kitchen, Rachel dialed the only number she knew wouldn't work. Her own.

The phone rang and rang. "Hello, Mom? C-could you come get me? I'm sort of lost." She glanced at Oscar who smiled at her brightly. "I'm over on--"

"Oak Street," said Oscar. "Five ten."

"510 Oak Street," she repeated to the sound of the ringing phone. "Thanks, Mom, I'll see you--"

"Hello?"

Rachel felt her stomach twist. The room spun.

"Hello, who's there? Who's calling?"

"Jake?" she whispered, barely holding back a flood of tears.

"Rachel?! RACHEL! Rachel, where are you?! Rachel, tell me where you are!"

No… No, she couldn't deal with this right now. It was too overwhelming. She couldn't. She hung up.

"Everything okay?" asked Oscar.

Rachel tried her best to steady herself. "Yeah, no, I'm okay."

His hand was on her hip. "Are you?" he asked. His breath was hot on her neck.

It was wrong. She wanted him to leave her alone. She wanted to leave.

But he smelled delicious, and she was so hungry.

It wasn't her first kiss, not by far. It wasn't the first time some guy's hand had been up her shirt, either, grabbing at her like a confused monkey.

Everything changes after you die. In Rachel's case, she got a new set of life experiences.

She tasted his mouth and pulled at his flesh with blunt fingers. She filled her nose with the smells that had come pouring out of his skin, and she was absolutely sure not to make a sound. And then, when he sapped the last bit of control, the last crumb of care, from her will...

"AGH! What did--!" he grabbed at his bloody throat and backed away. He stared at her transformed face in shock. "What are--? What's going on?"

Rachel stared back. "I'm going to tell you what was told me," she said, maybe a little bit too calmly.

"I… I…"

Rachel advanced on him, easily closing the gap again. "You're going to feel some pain at first."

And then she ripped his throat open with her teeth.

And when she was done, she washed her hands and mouth in the sink, grabbed a jacket from the back of the door, and put it on over her bloody clothes. Unfortunately, the kitchen door was pushed open as she was zipping it up. "Oh my gosh, you won't believe what Lawrence remembered about that name!" said Alice. And then she saw the scene before her. Horror grew in her eyes.

Rachel rolled her eyes and was next to the older girl before the scream could emerge. She snapped Alice's neck like it was made of twigs.

And then, with a second thought, Rachel bent down and kissed Alice's limp and lifeless body on the nose. She then left through the back door, walking around the house exactly to where Frank wasn't anymore. She chewed her lip and hoped she could find her way back alone.

Behind her, in the house, someone screamed.


	4. Children are the Future (Tobias)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Tobias, and I’m… I was… dead.

* * *

Marco pushed the key into the lock, popping the door open. "I guess it still works then," he said. He ran a hand across his stomach.

<Is there a reason why it would not?> asked Ax. <Are such simple devices unreliable?>

"No, they're reliable," Marco admitted.

Ax set up his gadget again, and Jake pointed out where I was located.

"This is humiliating, and I hate all of you." Marco closed the door behind himself. "Especially Jake."

"Noted," said Jake as Marco tossed the key to him.

Marco started stripping off his morphing suit, and Cassie and Jake turned away. Rachel turned away after Jake threw the key at her head. Ax turned on the device, and Cassie smiled at me, giving a thumbs-up.

"It's barely portable and kind of inconvenient," Rachel noted.

<Well, it is my first try,> Ax said, bristling a bit. <And I believe its only practical application may be in casual situations where portability and convenience is not a high priority anyway.>

"Okay, okay! Just making an observation."

"If you're not going to give me some privacy, make yourself useful," Marco told me, shoving clothing through the bars of the cage, and I popped over to take them.

Or I tried to.

I looked down at myself, confused.

"Well?" asked Marco.

I turned to Ax. "Ax, turn that off for a second."

<Just a second?> he asked. <Why?>

"Well, no, that's a phrase," I said. "Please just turn it off."

"What's going on?" asked Jake, turning to me.

"I can't move."

"You can't move?" Marco repeated. He looked like he didn't believe me.

I nodded. "Just now, I tried to pop over to you, and nothing happened!"

Marco scowled. He looked annoyed as he shifted his weight to lean against the cage wall. "Have you tried walking?"

I glared at him. I stormed over to him and took the clothes. When I tried popping back, nothing happened. "Okay, fine so I can _move_. But the lack of popping is a concern!"

Rachel turned Ax. "Maybe you should turn that off."

<It is off,> he said.

We all turned and stared at him.

"Ax-man, how long are the effects of that machine supposed to last?" Jake asked, absently rubbing his chest with the heel of his hand, like he had heartburn or something.

<They don't. The machine merely reflects the sound and light waves within a perceivable range. There is no "effect" to last. It would be like looking at your reflection in the mirror, taking the mirror away, and asking how long you can see the image of yourself.> He trotted slowly over to me. After a moment, he pushed at me with a finger. <My device does not affect Tobias's solidity. I am as confused as you.>

Alarm seized my brain as I realized what he meant. What all of it meant. "Oh, no. No, I don't think you are," I argued.

Rachel bent over and puked a mass of blood onto the floor. Ax, Cassie, and I immediately jumped backward away from the spreading puddle, but Jake and Rachel both fell to the floor, clutching their chests.

Marco shook the bars of the cage. "What's happening? What the hell's going on?"

"Don't you know, Prince Marco?" We all spun to face the Drode, who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the spectator area of the old werewolf-fighting arena that we were using to contain Marco's transformation. "It's only seven-thirty. You've got all night to figure it out. Take your time."

Marco's eyes slowly widened. He looked down at himself, then back at the Drode. "YOU COULDN'T HAVE PULLED THIS BULLSHIT BACK WHEN I HAD PANTS ON?"

"I find demonstrations are usually the best way to make a point," said the Drode.

"I think we'll buy it when you say you have the magic power to accomplish the unthinkable," Marco snarled. "Tobias? Clothes? Please?"

I started to pass them back and was momentarily confused when my hand didn't pass through the bars.

Marco grabbed the clothes through the space between bars. "He made us human, Tobias."

"I was always human."

"Living humans," Cassie clarified.

"The earth is certainly in good hands," the Drode laughed. "And I said that it was the 'best way,' not the most necessary way."

<'Best' as in entertaining to you,> Ax clarified.

"The blue one gets it!"

Rachel pulled herself to her feet, panting pathetically. "The same way you said I'd 'face death' when you knew that I wasn't going to die?"

"Yes, exactly." The Drode grinned broadly.

"What's the catch?" Jake demanded from the floor.

"No catch," it professed, hands up in an innocent gesture. Then, it tilted its head and grinned again. "That is, no catch _if_ you accept this gift."

"Had such a hard time of it last time that you intend to force us now?" Marco demanded, pulling his shirt over his head.

"Oh no," said the Drode, "as you so cleverly figured out, that was never a true offer. I only wanted to… size you up a bit."

<And what is this "catch" for not accepting?> asked Ax.

"I'm sorry, were you under the impression that turning bipedal for two hours at a time actually means something?" the Drode demanded. "You're not actually part of this discussion."

"He is," I insisted. "He's part of this team, and you'll answer his question."

The Drode looked over the group, and Marco, Cassie, Jake, and Rachel all nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright then. The catch is that if you don't agree, then things go back exactly as they were." It grinned again. "With the same path lying before you."

Cassie scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

And then we were elsewhere. I don't know what kind of elsewhere. It had a lot of white hallways. "Uh… guys?" I asked.

A bright flash of light, and Ax collapsed, unconscious. Another flash of light, and Marco and Cassie collapsed. We didn't even have to think about running, we just turned to beat it out of there. But we found ourselves face to face with a horde of Hork-Bajir, a good number of armed vampires, and a young man with some sort of large device circling his neck.

Despite the age difference, the mass of scars, and the unfamiliar expression, I recognized him immediately.

"Cages," was the only thing Marco said.


	5. Bad Blood (Jake)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Jake. It’s been so long since I felt my heart beat that I freaked out when it restarted. I’m supposed to be helping save the world.
> 
> I don’t know. I guess I forgot who I was.

* * *

Marco. Marco with a digital collar on his neck. Marco snarling down at me. Marco covered in scars and time that I can't explain.

The Hork-Bajir dragged me and Rachel through hall after hall. Cassie, Ax, and Marco -- our Marco, _my_ Marco -- were taken away from us, in three different directions. I hadn't seen Tobias since we'd arrived.

Marco -- their Marco, the wrong Marco -- shivered. Then, he stopped walking. The Hork-Bajir Controllers and vampire-Controllers (I could tell what they were? Yeah, it seemed I was back to vamp again.) almost piled up on him. He turned and looked back over the group. "Get Dissipators to do a sector by sector cleansing and barring," he ordered.

"Sir, this ship has already been--"

"Do it!" Marco growled, and the vampire-Controller who had spoken went running off somewhere. He glared at me again. "Tell me your name."

He didn't recognize me? No, he was at least a couple decades older than my Marco. Maybe three. Who knew how long it had been since he'd seen this face? "Susan," I said.

He snarled down at me. "You're a free vampire. No marks. Aren't much of you outside the Empires. There's no food in freedom."

"Maybe I don't want your food."

"Really?" Marco tilted his head and sniffed at the air. "So you don't like that smell?"

I hadn't noticed it yet. It was just far enough away. But the moment he brought my attention to it… "No," I lied, stone-faced. I'd certainly had plenty of practice with Hedrick.

He glowered down at me so long it was making me squirm. I wanted to claw his eyes out. Behind him, I saw a sweep of sparkling color, sort of like lights in a club. There were several lights across the ceiling, I realized, that didn't seem to have anything to do with illuminating the halls.

Deciding I wasn't what he wanted, Marco turned away from me. Turned to Rachel. I flinched. He glanced to me.

Math. That's what Rachel called it. That busy look just behind his eyes, while the rest of him was carefully blank, only revealing the barest hints of his thought process. She hated it.

He turned his calculations back on her. She squirmed. "Let go of us you filthy--"

"Shut up," he snapped, and it was so forceful, so angry, that Rachel actually shut up. She glanced fearfully to me while Marco got way too close to her. He _smelled_ her. "You're hungry," he decided.

"I…" she said.

"Let her go," he ordered.

We were both surprised to see the Hork-Bajir drop her and step back, but Marco grabbed her by the collar in a bruising grip and continued hauling her down the hallway. My Hork-Bajir keepers pulled me after them. Marco smacked a button with his free hand, and as soon as the door slid open, pouring out the smell of fresh blood, he threw Rachel inside. There were three humans inside, unconscious, with thin, clear tubing pumping fresh blood out into glass jugs. The least dead-looking of these three was a white woman with mostly gray hair that may have once been vaguely auburn. She might have been in her sixties, but she seemed recently familiar somehow.

What I really noticed, though, was that her eyes were missing. It wasn't a recent procedure, either. The scars told a vicious story, but they were faint.

Rachel, starving and incapable of resistance as she was, immediately showed her real face. She whimpered as she was tempted toward the blinded woman with the freshest blood.

"Rachel, don't!" I snarled. "You don't know what they've done to them! Control yourself!"

She curled up in a ball on the floor, pathetic, but unlikely to attack the unconscious humans.

Marco regarded us both closely. Finally, he nodded to a specific vampire-Controller. "Tell Visser One that the Savior's Resistance has sent Animorph impostors. I haven't figured out why yet. She is welcome to question them at her leisure, but I do believe I can handle the matter."

The vampire-Controller ran off. Saviors' Resistance. Animorph imposters. Age difference. Collar. Visser One. Controllers. This picture was adding up. The Drode had dropped us in the future, in front of a Marco who had been captured and now worked for Visser One herself. Rachel and myself must still be free and fighting and, with the lack of aging, Marco wouldn't know if we were the real ones or as strange as the young Cassie, Marco, and Ax that had arrived with us. That could have been a Trojan horse. A strangely brilliant one.

"You think this capture wasn't part of the plan?" I challenged. "The Saviors know you better than--"

"Save… yor _s_?" Marco drawled, raising an eyebrow as he stretched out that last, plural letter. "Since when was there more than one Eve Sands?"

It seemed I may have misinterpreted something.

Luckily, my yapping had still served its purpose. Rachel kicked him in the head from behind, sending him flying, and didn't hesitate to jump at the Hork-Bajir on my left. As soon as it let go, I threw the Hork-Bajir on my right. I tore a Dracon out of a vampire-Controller's hand and shot him and another Hork-Bajir Controller.

"Level Ten Human," said a robotic female voice. A familiar voice.

Rachel took a blade to the upper arm but cracked the Hork-Bajir's beak in return. I held down the Dracon trigger until I burned out a vampire-Controller's heart.

"Level Nine Human." Eva's voice. But why would she make announcements like that?

Another Controller came up behind me, and I swung my arm backward, connecting my elbow with their eye socket.

"Level Eight Humanoid."

Rachel tore out a Hork-Bajir's chest with her teeth and eagerly lapped up the profuse and syrupy blood.

"Level Seven Humanoid." The voice might have been Eva's, but it was flat and robotic. They'd used her real voice as a model for a synthetic one. But what the hell was it talking about?

I realized that the vampire-Controllers were gone. Unlike our other  battles, no one came to back up the Hork-Bajir Controllers.

"Level Six SubHuman Type Three." And then it hit me.

Slowly, I turned to face him. Marco, partially transformed and fully in control. Monstrous, powerful, fearsome. That was what the collar was for. He removed his hand from a button on the side. The collar. The collar had been announcing his progression. A warning system.

He smiled. "Now, what do you have to say, impostor?"

"Escape from Human Containment," came the same robotic Eva voice but from a speaker in the ceiling.

Marco glared at the speaker. I smirked. "Can't keep a good Animorph down."

"You are _not_ the Animorphs!"

"Remember the Drode?" I asked. "Or, rather, does the friend you took prisoner?"

" _Prisoner_?" Marco laughed. "Is that what you think happened?" He leapt at me. Tackled me to the ground. Rachel pulled a Dracon on him, but there were teeth not even an inch from my throat. "I'd have done _anything_ to stop **_you_**!"

"Gashad Ninety-Four detected on approach to post," said the voice. "Andalite is no longer secured in custody."

Marco ignored the announcements, never once taking his eyes off me. "If you are who you say you are, then you know what you're capable of!" he argued. "What is the point of a human race that doesn't survive? We might as well have left this war to the Andalites!" I could feel his claws sinking into my shoulders. "If this is those three fucking with time again, if this is another chance, if you want to convince me that you're playing the good game… Then let me kill you. Let me save the future from you."

Rachel shook her head. "No. Jake would never hurt anyone!"

Marco laughed. Laughed right in my face in his half-man, half-werewolf form. "'Cuz he's never done that before? He hadn't been doing that for years before you even met us? Before you turned me and Cassie into the new pawns to make you feel comfortable and righteous. Even this war only existed to let you prove something. It was so easy to give up. You can imagine it easily, can't you?"

I tried to throw him off, but he was stronger. Hundreds of transformations, years of experience… he had power and knowledge over me.

"Un-contained SubHuman Type Three within Vallejo Post. Gashad Ninety-Four now assaulting Southeast Gate."

"Let's change the future, Jake," Marco snarled. His teeth scraped my neck, and I shook with fear. But I couldn't tell him he was wrong. After everything that had happened, I couldn't say that the future he professed was impossible.

“HRRRAAAUUH!”

Marco barely had time to look up before a moose shoved him off of me. "Get the collar!" I ordered Rachel. "We have to get that on our Marco! We won't get him out without it!"

"That's insane!" Rachel screamed, but she ran straight for his recovering  form. He took a swipe at her face, and she kicked at him. It left me the opening I needed. I closed the distance in a moment, grabbed the collar and ripped backward.

There were two snaps. His spine, and then the collar.

"Do you think you broke it?" asked Rachel.

<Jake…> said Cassie.

"That's not Marco," I said. "This isn't real. None of it. Let's go find the real one."


	6. Like Son (Marco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Marco. I lead a small cluster of children in the one and only resistance against the Yeerk Invasion of Earth by aliens that take over your brain and control your body. We call ourselves Animorphs. Animal morphers. An ability given to us by an Andalite, another alien, to turn into any animal we touch.
> 
> But that ability only belongs to Cassie, Ax, and me. Jake, Rachel, and Tobias provide other advantages. At least…
> 
> I thought they were advantages.

* * *

I woke up in the white hallways I'd only glimpsed before getting flash-knocked out like I had on the Andalite dome. Alarms were blaring over some robotic lady-voice informing where trouble was located. There was something around my neck.

"Level Four SubHuman Type Three," said the same robotic lady-voice… from my neck.

I groped at the device on my neck, scratching myself with claws. I remembered now. I remembered waking up in the middle of transformation before they'd even gotten me where they wanted me. I was on a Yeerk base! I was a werewolf! Everyone was in danger!

"Level Five SubHuman Type Three." My skin itched, and I could feel my bones shifting, just like I was morphing, but… But this wasn't a morph. I had just been… Hadn't I? Where was I?

"Level Six SubHuman Type Three." Wait... That voice...

Tssewww! Someone fell dead behind me. I turned to see a Hork-Bajir Controller. I realized both that Rachel had fired on it and that not only was Cassie squatting next to me but that she had been speaking to me this entire time.

"What?" I asked, starting to calm down again.

"Level Seven Humanoid," said my neck.

"What the fuck is on my neck?" I demanded. "And why is it talking? Am I naked again? Why does it have my mom's voice?"

Jake snorted and offered me a hand up. "Sorry, buddy, but you have bigger things to worry about right now."

I groaned. "Oh, I _love it_ when we have bigger problems than werewolves."

"Level Eight Humanoid." I looked down at my morphing hands. My demorphing hands, actually. I could see bulk and fur disappearing, much the way it did with the gorilla. The claws were almost gone, already being replaced by fingernails.

My wolf form. My wolf form was being controlled as a morph by this thing on my neck.

"Level Nine Human."

I glared at Jake. "Where the fuck did this come from?"

"Later," he said. "We need to get out of here. So far, we've been lucky that they also have bigger things to worry about right now. But who knows how long that will last?"

"Level Ten Human."

"Where's Tobias?" I asked, raising to my feet, noting that everyone else was present.

<We have been unable to locate him,> said Ax. He pointed above us. <We believe these lamps are meant to disrupt his light and sound waves so that he cannot be perceived even by those who normally would, like a reversal of my own device.>

"So we're going to leave him?!" I demanded. "That's your plan?!"

"There's nothing we can do!" said Rachel. "I want to get Tobias out as much as you, but we have to hope he's following along or has already bailed, because we can't help someone we can't see!"

"We can destroy this stupid lamp system!" I insisted.

<How? Where is it based? How does it work?> asked Ax. <I don't know what energy they're using. For all that is known, a disruption in the field could destroy him.>

"Marco, we are in a Yeerk base on Earth in town in some fake future," said Jake. "We have to get out while we still can."

I turned on him. "And where the fuck did you find a collar for a morph-capable werewolf in a Yeerk base?"

Jake lifted his hands and stepped back. His eyes were wide. He was shaking his head. "It's something the Drode did," he insisted. "All of this is just a game; it's fake!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because it _has to be_!"

Tssewww! Tssewww! Two more Controllers dropped on approach thanks to Rachel. "Guys, we are running out of people who don't care about us!" she chided.

"Gashad Ninety-Four is approaching Pool Sector."

Cassie turned to Ax. "Ax, do you know what a gashad is?"

He made an expression that I'd started to recognize as an Andalite frown. <A gashad is a warrant issued by the Council of Thirteen to kill a criminal on sight. It does not usually refer to the individual, as I believe it does in this context.> He tilted his head. <That must have changed in the past twenty-four years.>

"Or it's one of those linguistic cues that something's being faked," Jake snarled.

I nodded. "Okay. Okay, um… Anyone the Yeerks want dead on sight is probably our friend. So we should probably head…" I swore. "...  _toward_ trouble."

Ax back-stepped to a nearby touch panel on the wall and manipulated it for a moment. A Hork-Bajir Controller stopped at the end of the hall when it saw us. Rachel shot it. Ax nodded. <I believe I know the way to the pool sector.>

I nodded. "Morphers morph, even Ax. Vamps, try not to get shot."

<Prince Marco, I do not have a battle morph.>

"I know, but if they see an Andalite, they're going to go right for you and you alone. Morph squirrel or bird and concentrate on eluding them."

<… Yes, Prince Marco.> He sounded pissed. Good, now we can all be pissed.

Cassie quickly got taller, her head stretched out, and she bulked up. Ax shrank down and sprouted feathers, and his forelegs disappeared. And yet nothing happened to me.

"Are you fucking serious?!" I demanded, beginning to panic a little.

"Level Nine Human."

I froze. Just froze in complete fucking terror.

"When we stole it, we might have broken it a little," Rachel admitted.

"Oh…" I groaned. "Oh perfect…"

"Level Ten Human."

"Maybe if you stay calm, you'll stay stable," Jake suggested, coming closer to inspect the collar.

"Okay, yeah. Calm," I repeated. "I only have to run into the face of danger in hopes that a Yeerk criminal wants to be best friends with me."

Jake pressed a button. "Try it now."

"Why?" I demanded. "What does that button do?"

"I don't know, but it has a bird on it."

I rolled my eyes and concentrated on the gorilla morph. Finally, the changes started. And then we were running after Ax down hall after hall. Rachel's Dracon would sizzle. My fist would pound. Cassie's teeth would tear.

Soon, we heard commotion ahead. Fighting. The smell of blood. 

"Get down! Flank B to right! I want their Kandrona destroyed! Get those cages open!"

"That voice…" said Jake, grabbing up a second Dracon from a fallen Controller. I glanced at him nervously. Then, I nodded. It was his place, I thought, to be the first in, if that was in fact the voice we recognized. I guess I wasn't thinking. I was panicked. The whole arrangement was strange. I should have seen it for what it was.

Dracon held low in case he needed it, Jake ran ahead of us, looking like any other vampire-Controller. Cassie's moose ran in to back him up, and Rachel quickly gained ground next to him.

And there he was, with a dozen Dracon-weilding guards. Tom. The great-grandson of Jake's brother. The one he lived with as a "cousin". He was wielding what looked like a Dracon but had barrel almost as big as my fist. My real fist, not my ape fist. Tom took one look at us newcomers. It was all he needed.

He shot Jake through the chest. It must have been the heart. He didn't even react. He was dead immediately. His flesh cracked and grayed and turned to ash until he finally just collapsed in a heap of dust. Rachel screamed, and the same was done to her.

The Dracon turned on me. I lifted my hands. <Don't shoot! We're willing to ally! To give you whatever you want! Don't shoot!>

"You think I don't recognize that collar?" Tom shouted, snarling.

<Really? Whose is it?>

Tom stared at me for a moment. Then, he gestured at the open door behind him. "We have secured that path. Enter it and demorph immediately, and you'll be taken prisoner. I will not waste resources getting you there."

I nodded. <Ax! Cassie! The door behind Tom!>

<Can we trust him? He just killed Rachel and Jake!>

<I know, but we can't stay! Be on alert. Be ready to fight your way out!>

And then we ran for the door.


	7. American Foul Brood (Aximili)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and I have watched my friends die on a falsified caricature of their homeworld over a war that we Andalites started. If any of my people are to read this...
> 
> I need you to understand why I have made the choices that I have.

* * *

The human called Tom, who is Jake's relation, sat across from Prince Marco on plastic box cages in a closed off-area of a dank and unexpectedly well-lit warehouse. I was still not clear whether Tom was a Controller in this reality or not as no one would answer our questions for the entire journey from the Yeerk base to the warehouse. He was wearing ill-fitting, borrowed clothing. In his face, I read human expressions that I'd learned to recognize as confusion and annoyance. "Okay," Tom said at last. "One more time."

Prince Marco groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I know it's insane! But the story's not going to change, okay? You're fighting vampires and werewolves and aliens all in one go; maybe you should reevaluate your idea of--"

"We're not fighting werewolves," Tom said, surprised.

Prince Marco blinked and stuck his head forward. "You're not?"

Tom shook his head. "No. Werewolves have almost exclusively sided with the Savior. She's one of theirs, after all." He shrugged. "In a way."

"The Savior's Resistance," said Tobias, appearing suddenly. "That's who that guy thought had sent us. He thought they'd sent fake Animorphs to raid the base."

Tom glanced over Tobias carefully before replying, "That's the most needlessly extravagant plan I've ever heard."

<I can see you,> I told Tobias.

He was surprised by that. "Really?"

<Yes, and I can hear you as I hear everyone else.>

Tom nodded. "Yeah, we have ghost lamps all over." He pointed at the warehouse rafters, strung with added lighting. "Don't want spies sneaking up without us knowing."

<Fascinating,> I said. <How did you make it?>

Tom frowned. "Aren't you meant to be Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill?"

I flustered and back-stepped. I did not like hearing my name from what might be Yeerk-controlled lips. <Yes?>

"You invented them." His scowl deepened. "You invented all of our anti-typer defense and weaponry."

<Typers?> I asked. <You mean these subhuman classifications?>

Tom nodded. "Yeah, Yeerks call them 'typers', using a system based on the one vampires use, classifying the human-derived as type ones, twos, threes, fours... and so on."

I… I did not know what to make of that.

Marco's eyes widened. "Did you just say four?"

But it seemed that Tom felt he'd provided enough information. He ignored Marco and turned his attention to Tobias. "You said 'that guy,'" he reminded him.

"Uh… well…" Tobias glanced nervously at Prince Marco.

"Don't spare my feelings now." Prince Marco touched his morph collar for the one hundred thirty-sixth time. "If it's who I suspect, then Tom already told me."

"Uh… Well, it was you… I mean, it was… he was older…" Tobias fumbled.

"'Was'?" asked Tom.

Tobias's gaze dropped to his fidgeting hands. "Well… Jake killed him. To get the collar."

That was when Cassie started crying. She had appeared well for the entire journey to the warehouse. Quiet and stone-faced. She had given clear answers when asked questions. But, at that moment, she fell to her knees and weeped openly and loudly. Prince Marco got up so fast that the plastic box clattered away from him.

"Hey, you're being interrogated!" Tom protested.

"Oh shut up!" Prince Marco snapped, kneeling next to Cassie and pulling her against him. His collar warned that he had become one level closer to werewolf transformation, though there was no visible change.

Tom frowned and looked over us. "You really are different. The ones that -Esgarrouth-Isthill and Fangor used to talk about."

<Our counterparts are no longer with you?> I asked him.

He shook his head. "-Esgarrouth-Isthill killed himself to avoid capture by the slugs. Fangor was taken out by an exorcist from the Vampiric Empire. I never saw Cassie again after things changed. I heard she gave her parents morphing ability and fled with them. As you know, Marco surrendered to his mother's slug to become a weapon against Jake and Rachel, who had become key players for the Vamps." Prince Marco glared at Tom as though he'd been accused of something. "The uncontrolled humans are either safe with the Savior's Resistance or fodder for vamps. Many of those under slug control have been turned into vampire-Controllers, but the most difficult to control have been turned into blood banks. The wolves fight beside us. The vamps just keep them for entertainment or information. The slugs mostly shoot them these days. Too much maintenance to keep. And we don't accept vampires; they're always with one of the Empires."

Marco frowned. "You mean this is a three-sided war?"

Tom shrugged. "To a degree. We had a reason to believe that the empires are together against the Savior lately. That's why I wasn't surprised to see your Jake and Rachel at the base."

<This 'Savior' is that big of threat?> I asked.

Tom laughed. It had a strange sound. I have occasionally heard Prince Marco laugh like that, when the topic was not actually amusing. "We have no idea. She's… Eight, I think? We have maybe another decade before we find out what we've been waiting for. Maybe longer than that."

Tobias looked at him with disbelief. "You're following a baby, hoping that she _might_ be able to do something to help _eventually_?"

"You have a better solution?" asked Tom. "Both sides are putting us in cages, ghost-boy. I don't know if you've ever known what that feels like but--"

"The only time you were ever in a cage was to protect you from werewolves," Prince Marco snarled. "You took the easy route."

Tom glowered down at him. "The same route you'll choose for yourself in time! You haven't seen those two for what they are yet!"

"And now we never will!" Cassie screamed, erupting from Prince Marco's arms. "You didn't know them! You didn't fight beside them! You didn't hug them in their grief! You didn't go down to the pool with them just to rescue _your_ ungrateful ass!"

"No," Tom said quietly. "But I did watch them hold the entire school hostage. I did watch them kill my parents. I did watch them barter my life with the slugs like I was a piece of meat. I did watch them tear open the throats of any and all dissenters. I did--"

"No! Shut up!" Cassie cried.

Tom looked a bit helpless. "Can't you talk to her?"

"Still kind of stuck on the three-sided war, actually," Prince Marco admitted, and Cassie punched him, though not at all hard enough to hurt him.

"Why?" asked Tobias.

"Because it's stupid? Insanely stupid?" Prince Marco suggested. "There's no way to win, when your resources are split. You're doubly losing the lives you're trying to save from Yeerks and vampires. Vampires are losing fodder and resources to both you and the Yeerks. The Yeerks aren't exactly getting the planet they'd hoped for."

Prince Marco's assertion confirmed what I'd already suspected. Tom was unhappy, though. "What do you want us to do, then? Just give up everything to them?"

<What aid have the Andalites provided?> I asked.

Tom blinked at me. "Andalites?" He shook his head. "There's no blue this side of the galaxy. They sent one Dome ship for an underestimated Yeerk cluster back in the nineties. That's all."

"What?" Cassie demanded. "But it's been twenty-four years!" She turned to me. "You said it would take two!"

<I think… I think that when intelligence revealed the developing situation, they abandoned interest in Earth,> I said.

"Why would they do that?" Tobias demanded.

But Prince Marco understood. "Because no one wins in a three-sided war. Yeerks included. If they ignored us, the Yeerks would continue pouring wasted resources into this hell-pit simply because its the one place that Andalites aren't."

Tom sat on his plastic box again. Hard. It made a cracking sound under him.

Prince Marco looked at him with pity. "Here's hoping you're right about that little werewolf Jesus, man. 'Cuz no one else is saving you."

There was a knock at the wall. "Come in," Tom grumbled.

Someone poked their head in. A small human child. Much smaller, and I believe therefore much younger, than my human friends. "Mister Thomas, there's someone at the front entrance to see you."

"We don't get visitors, Darius."

"He says he's your uncle?"

Tom's eyes slowly widened with realization. And then he ran for the backdoor we had come in through.

There she was. Rachel. Almost exactly as we'd left her. Her yellow hair was curled, but longer now. She was wearing all black with a collapsed hood against her back. She also wore a backpack, to which was connected the hose she was holding, similar to hoses that had been used to wash blood off of her but different in design.

Marco grabbed Cassie and pulled her away, toward me and the other door, which Darius had already abandoned. Tom drew his weapon. Rachel laughed and spread her arms. "Really? I've got a pack full of flammable, and you're going to threaten me with a laser weapon?"

Tom hesitated. That was a mistake.

We dove through the door as flames erupted behind us. "Bail! Bail! Morph!" Prince Marco ordered.

But the next room, the rest of the warehouse, was not better. Humanoids in body armor with red hammer symbols were swarming the area in formation. Beam weapons and firearms were largely deflected. Some hit their target. A few of those targets evaporated to ash much as we had seen Jake and Rachel do when killed at the base.

In the meantime, the ones with the uniforms shot, electrified, or beat the resistance fighters into submission. "Show no mercy!" a voice shouted from the group. A familiar voice.

Prince Marco grabbed up a dropped energy weapon and took aim. But Jake was not standing in the midst of the cluster anymore, shouting orders. Jake grabbed Prince Marco by the hair from behind and pulled him backward onto his posterior. Prince Marco shouted out in surprise and pain.

I hurried to his side, but Jake shot at me. He didn't even look. He just shot in my direction. Cassie grabbed me and pulled me to the floor. I believe we were hoping the vampires would not notice us down there. I was bleeding profusely from the wound on my upper torso and was beginning to become aware of my pain.

Jake shoved the barrel of his firearm against Prince Marco's temple.  "It always comes down to this, doesn't it, bestie?"

"How?" Prince Marco demanded, still not raising his own weapon. He stared at Jake with what I believed to be horror. His eyes were wide. He was trembling. "Why?" he demanded.

Jake frowned, momentarily confused.

Tobias blew him backward. Against the werewolf cage. Prince Marco stared down at him, then looked around at the "dogfighting" arena. His hand was pressed against his temple. His expression was twisted.

"Everyone dead then?" asked the Drode. It was not until Cassie suddenly appeared among our group that I realized she had disappeared from my side. "Ah, smoke inhalation. Yes, vampires aren't very careful with that, are they?"

"We all had to be murdered to get back?" Rachel demanded angrily.

"No, of course not," said the Drode. "You can hardly refer to exorcism as 'murder'."

"Oh fuck you," Tobias snarled.

"This is how you plan on winning us over?" Prince Marco demanded.

"I don't care if you like me; I'm making a _point_ ," the Drode drawled. "Continue on as you are, and _that_ is the path you will meet. Complete, self-created obliteration of the earth. Friend against friend." He turned to eye Rachel specifically. "Monster versus monster." He looked over the lot of us. "What you saw was the inevitable. Rachel without a leash. Jake with blood in his mouth. Marco sacrificing everything for small compromises. Cassie fleeing in panic. Aximili and Tobias, deader than dead. Your friends and family, scrambling to clean up your messes."

It stepped forward toward us, and I could not help stepping back. "But you can stop it. Humans fighting for humanity. The way it should be. You can put a stop to your fears of each other. Become a _real_ team."

Jake and Rachel frowned and nodded. Tobias, however, became upset, bowed his head, and turned away. I admit that I was confused by this at the time.

But, to my surprise, it was Prince Marco who stormed forward. Prince Marco, whom we had seen betray humanity and his friends just to fight the vampire threat. Prince Marco, who has constantly complained of the existence of werewolves and vampires, never had a kind word for the latter, and had held Jake personally responsible for several terrible events. He came forward at that point and said angrily, "Well, thank you for the warning, then. We'll keep it in mind. Kindly leave now."

The Drode stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Assuming that what you showed us is even _remotely_ true, we now know what to _not_ do," Marco snarled. "I'm gonna make a mental note: Working for Yeerks doesn't help anybody. Jake? Please don't ever become more of a dick. Rachel? Keep your murder boner to yourself. Cassie? Ax? Tobias? I actually don't see anything wrong with the things you did. Escaping? Innovating? All good plans, but when utilizing them, maybe you wanna try not to get caught and die."

Despite my better inclination, I laughed at that. As did the others.

Prince Marco turned to the Drode with a smirk. "I'm not giving up some of our best weapons just because you say it _might_ go awry in a couple decades. Right now, these so-called monsters are saving lives."

"Were you not paying attention?" asked the Drode. "You must understand that giving them humanity means--?"

"What? That they _might_ , _somehow_ be able to get another go at morphing technology in the next _twenty-four_ years? Fuck that! No, that is not a goal of ours. If we're still fighting in twenty-four years, then we have already lost everything we were fighting for." Prince Marco shook his head. "Again, thank you for the offer, but we refuse and you can leave now. Everyone who agrees, raise their hand." And he raised his hand.

Tobias, too, raised his hand. As did Cassie, and then I. Finally, Rachel grabbed Jake's hand and raised it with her own.

The Drode snarled furiously. "You're acting foolishly!"

"Yeah, whatever, bye now!" Rachel said cheerfully.

The Drode disappeared. Prince Marco immediately collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain. Jake and I ran forward and pulled him into the werewolf cage, slamming the door closed. In moments, his uncontrolled other form paced the cage, eying us with predator hunger.

"I guess I have to go pick up new clothes for Marco," Jake said, watching the werewolf carefully.

"I have to go home," said Rachel. "We're not done with family meetings."

I nodded. <We shall watch over him.>

Cassie gripped Jake's elbow briefly. "Stay safe," she whispered.


	8. Old Girl (Rachel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have this friend. She says that the human condition… human nature… being human… is to be cold and alone. I’m not sure if that’s true. I never really got the opportunity to find out. Neither of us did, really. But I did think that this was true of those who tried to be human. Me and Jake, forgoing vampire society but never quite human ourselves… There was nothing colder. Nothing more alone.
> 
> I was wrong. There’s hope, for everyone. And I’m fighting so that everyone gets to chance to find that hope.
> 
> My name is Rachel, and I’m an Animorph.

* * *

"Oh, Mr. Bond, what fun is in store for you today?" I asked, picking up my book.

"Did you just get home?" asked Naomi.

I rolled my eyes and turned to her with a well-practiced sweet smile. "Sorry, I know I broke curfew, but…"

"Oh, so you're aware that you have one?" she asked. "Could have fooled me."

"It was less than an hour!" I protested.

"It's every day!" she said. She sighed heavily. "Rachel, sit down; we need to talk." Except she didn't call me Rachel. No one but Jake ever did, and he had to look both ways first. They all thought I was someone else. The name of a baby never born.

I sat on one end of the couch, and she sat opposite me. "As you know, Dan is moving pretty far from here." She made a face. "Across the country, actually."

"Yeah, I remember consoling the girls about it," I snipped bitterly.

"After coming home late again," she reminded me. She patted my hand. Warm blood pumped through her fingers. I swallowed nervously. "Look, you're with Jean's family, really. Your closest connection to us is through Dan. Now, Dan and I took you in because Steve and Jean weren't sure they could handle the both of you. But when Dan--"

She turned away, blinking very fast and coughing into her hand. When she had regained composure, she continued but wouldn't look at me. "I never signed up to be a single mother. I just… It's a lot to ask of me to deal with all your new problems on top of trying to raise my own two little girls."

"Are you kicking me out?" I demanded. I was horrified. I couldn't do this on my own. I'd never been on my own. Where would I go? How would I help the others? Would I still have Jake?

"No, of course not!" she insisted. "No, and I'd never… But… But Dan said…"

"Dan said what?"

She fidgeted. "Well, he offered to take you with him. The girls are too young to be split between such a distance, but he can take you. To New York. I think it could be really good for you to--"

"But Jake is here!" I shouted. There were tears in my eyes.

"You can still see him!" Naomi insisted. "There will be visits when Dan visits. And you can always call him. And, you know, there's the internet these days…"

"I don't believe this…"

"Rachel…"

I blew up at her. "Don't I get a say in this?" I cried.

Naomi looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry. But, no, you don't."

I made some sort of noise.

"Please try to understand…"

"You bitch!" I ran upstairs. Threw myself on the bed. Cried. I'd watched my cousin kill his best friend. I'd heard about the worst future possible and was told of my responsibility in it. And this was what made me cry.

Naomi wasn't the real bitch in the house. Not really.

I kept crying.

* * *

"You're out?" Marco repeated, disbelieving. Then, he looked around and pulled me down the hall and out a backdoor. Some fifteen-year-old deadbeat glanced up at us. I snarled, and they beat it. When we were sure that we were alone, he turned back to me. "What do you mean you're out? You're the only one actually getting a kick out of this."

"Am not!" I insisted. He gave me a look. "Maybe a little. That's not the point."

"What is then?"

I sighed and leaned against the wall. "Dan is moving to New York. Naomi is sending me with him. She says I don't get a say."

Marco swore under his breath. "So we're down by one. They're going to notice that, Rachel."

"Maybe we'll do an elaborate death sequence," I suggested, mimicking my best death face.

Marco laughed. "Oh god, I shouldn't be laughing at that. What's wrong with me?" He nodded firmly. "Thanks for giving me a heads-up. We'll see what we can plan." He looked at me curiously. "Have you told Jake yet?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he's… slightly freaked."

He snorted. "Only slightly?"

I shrugged. "He thinks it will be good for me. The distance from people who know me and have influence on me."

"Is that true?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You think there's not vampires in New York?" I shook my head. "Besides, when I've never kissed anyone without killing them, it's better I keep ki--"

"You _what_?" He looked shocked.

I was embarrassed. Sometimes I forget what life is like for normal people. "I, uh, I've never kissed anyone without killing them. I mean… I'm referring to more than a peck here, to be clear, but… yeah…"

I was surprised that he wasn't looking at me like a monster, or even a victim. But his expression wasn't happy, either. "You do know how fucked up that is, right?" he asked.

"Oh shut up." I pulled at one of my meticulously formed ragcurls nervously.

Marco frowned. "Is… Has Jake…?"

I shook my head. "No, Jake's a virgin."

Marco made a face. "Rachel, that's not what I was asking!"

"No, not _that_. I mean, yes, that too, but…" I shook my head again. "That's what they call him. Because he's never had human blood. As far as I know, he hasn't had _any_ since the day he was made."

"That's an option?" Marco asked.

I shrugged. "It's easier for some than others." I glanced down at my bright, pink kitten heel mules. "That's actually the other thing I wanted to talk to you about."

"Jake's feeding habits?" Marco made that face again.

I nodded. "The Drode said--"

"Look, don't pay attention to what that--"

"But I do," I said. "Marco, listen. He said that the Jake you saw in the future had blood in his mouth. I really think that means he fed. I think the Drode was implying that feeding changed Jake's personality."

"Why would it do that?" he demanded, shaking his head.

"It does for me," I admitted. "And I've never gone a long term without. I've heard stories of the wild swings from the 'sober' that 'fall off the wagon'. The massacre that follows the first drop."

Marco scowled and looked back at the door.

"Marco, it's wrong to trust us fully," I said, knowing that Jake would scream at me if he knew. But Jake was not leader of the Animorphs, and soon he might've had no say over me. "You never know what could change us. Change our circumstances. You think you're the first best friend he's ever had? You need to prepare for the worst, and you're sensible enough that, if I can't get out of this move, I think I can trust you."

"Trust me with what?" he asked quietly.

I took a deep breath, though I didn't really need it. "Make sure Jake never drinks. Ever. And, worse comes to worst, to be prepared to kill him. Either of us, actually."

Marco threw the door open and stormed back inside the school.

* * *

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I already knew from the weight of the footsteps that it was Dan. "Come in," I told him, straightening my clothes.

He did. Then, he carefully closed the door behind him. "Hi, Rachel. Naomi says she told you about the… arrangement?"

"Nice job having her deliver all the bad news for you," I snarled.

"Now, Rachel, you know it wasn't like that," he said. Except, like Naomi, he didn't actually say "Rachel."

"Do I?" I asked. "Why don't you call me… What was it then? Riva? Whatever makes you feel comfortable, but my name, actually, is _Rachel_." And when I said Rachel, I said Rachel. My name. My real name. The Rachel I'd been when I was born. When I was human. With a mother and a father of my own. Back when I was loved and wanted.

Dan swallowed. "What?"

I don't know what it was. Maybe it was everything the Drode had put us through. Maybe it was having to confess our deepest secrets to Marco just so he'd start sleeping with stakes. Maybe it was having it up to my neck with mortal bullshit. "Here's the thing, Dan: I've thought about this whole moving thing, and everyone's right. It's probably good for me and for Naomi and, hell, maybe it would even teach you some responsibility."

"Hey! I have plenty--"

"Hush, little boy, I'm talking."

"Little--?" He stared at me in confusion. I sat upright and swung my legs off the bed, and when he swallowed again, I heard his pulse speed up.

"Normally, I would agree to go with you," I admitted, standing and approaching him. "I'm part of your family, more than hers. Like I said, it might even do me good. But there's serious shit going down here, and--."

"You know I don't like it when you swear," Dan said on reflex. He was starting to sweat.

I smirked. I reached out and touched his cheek, and he flinched away. "So you do remember." My hand traveled to that collar he always buttoned too high. "The old town secret?"

He shoved my hand aside. His glare was angry, but I smelled fear.

"You always knew, didn't you, Dan? You knew Jean was haunted. You knew it was your turn to bear the town's burden when she and Steve married. But I know you, Dan. You're the one who cries and runs away, leaving the better people behind."

He shook his head. "What makes you think that I would do that?"

"Because I'm letting you." It was cold. It was also true.

Dan stared me down, every ounce the little boy who had gotten bitten for shoving me in school. He remembered. It's hard to forget your first monster.

And that's how I got him to leave.

I didn't see him again.

"That was awkward," said Tobias, sitting on the end of my bed.

I shrugged. "Best part about smooching ghosts is that it really doesn't matter if guardians walk in on you."

"Is that so?" Tobias drawled. He smirked at me.

I turned back to him with a clever grin, my hands on my hips. "Well… second best."


	9. Draining (Rachel backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING: This fic contains implication of teen sexuality involving dubious consent. The character’s backstory was designed to explore vampire mythos, and, while the scenes are not explicit, I do understand that the idea is distasteful to some readers.]

**1918…**

More and more police piled up as the simple hideaway turned out to be an entire nest. They were incensed by what they thought they found. The women. The youth. The smell of sex and corpses.

When they pulled Rachel out, sleepy and confused, she was clean. Officer Fitzgerald found it irrelevant that the missing child was the reason they had found the place at all. She was a child, any fool could see that, and these monsters had done their best to corrupt the poor creature.

When he brought her to the police wagon, he even let her sit in the front passenger seat. He tried to talk to her about her school, her friends, boys she liked. She sat gripping the bumping seat with white knuckles.

"Your house had a record player," he said. "Is there anything you like to listen to?"

She smiled, just a bi. "Nora. Nora Bayes."

"Yeah? She's real talented, that lady," he said. "I like that 'Over There.'"

"They were listening. At the house," she admitted. "Nora Bayes. Over There. 'So prepare. Say a prayer. Send the word, send the word to beware.'"

"At your house? That was something you listened to?"

"No, at the party where I killed them."

Officer Fitzpatrick scowled. "Look, little girl… What that man made you do, it ain't right, and you don't have to take credit for it…"

"I wasn't." She hunched forward. "I wasn't going to kill them. I didn't mean to. I…" She glanced at him, bit her lip, and looked away. "I got hungry."

"Don't you worry, little girl. We'll make sure he's held responsible."

She glanced at him with innocent doe eyes. "Who?"

A few hours later, Ben, Deborah, Gideon, and Jacob Thompson arrived at the police station. They were directed to an interrogation room, where Rachel Thompson had sat the entire time that the precinct had been debating if the charges against her would be dropped. Jake bolted through rows of desks, barely missing the knees and feet of seated criminals or complainants or additional officers. Gideon caught his elbow when he had to stop for a crying woman in his way. "Hey!" his brother cried. "Wait!"

"Wait?" Jake repeated, incredulous. "Wait why?"

"Because…" Gideon struggled. "Because I'm sure they have a way of--"

"No, it's alright, boys," said a policeman, putting hands on their shoulders. "Come on, let's see your cousin. I'm glad we were just able to find her alive."

Gideon swallowed. "Yeah…" His heart was thundering, and Jake tried to step away from the sound.

The policeman gestured to Ben and Deborah. "How about the boys go first? She's been through a lot and may be more comfortable talking to friends her own age."

"I'm 18," Gideon snorted. "I was in a _war_."

However, Ben nodded in agreement. "That's alright," he said. "You go in, Jacob. You tell her we're here for her."

Deborah reached out and squeezed Jake's arm. He could feel the pulse in her fingertips.

Jake nodded quickly and made his escape to the interrogation room. The officer unlocked it for him, revealing painted brick walls, a wooden table, and Rachel, handcuffed to a wooden chair. Relief broke across Jake's face. "Rachel!"

"Jake." But she wasn't looking at Jake. She was looking at Gideon, standing in the doorway.

"How… When… What did…?" Jake began to realize that there was no question he could ask her within a police station.

"How are you feeling, Rachel?" asked Gideon.

"Aren't you supposed to be at war?" she asked, changing the subject.

Gideon frowned. "War's over, Rachel. It's been over a year since you disappeared. It's almost Christmas."

"Really?" she asked, and for a moment she looked so wholly like herself again that Jake could cry.

Gideon nodded.

"Who won?"

The brothers exchanged glances. "Rachel," said Jake, "how _are_ you doing?"

Her gaze still did not shift from Gideon. "Bit peckish." The familiar Rachel was gone, leaving only bloodlust behind.

Jake swallowed. "That's fine, Rachel, but if you can wait it out…"

"I don't _want_ to wait it out, Jacob," she sneered, still not taking her eyes off Gideon. "I want to eat, Jacob."

"I know. I know, but if you--"

"I'm _going_ to eat, Jacob."

Gideon looked between the two of them, unsure of what was going on. He felt uneasy under the intensity of her stare.

"Just… Just hold out, okay? I'll…" He glanced helplessly to Gideon. "I'll be back to visit as soon as I can. Okay?"

Finally, her gaze shifted. She smirked. "We're dead now, Jacob. You do realize that? What are you living for?"

Jake pulled at Gideon's arm. Backed away. "We'll come back."

"Don't be long," she whined. "Daddy's throwing a party."

Jake scowled. "I'm serious, Rachel. There's… There's a way out of this. You just have to wait it out."

Her eyes slid back to Gideon. "Look, if you're not going to eat that--"

Jake pushed through the door open behind them, pulled Gideon out with him, and slammed it shut behind them. Gideon was staring at him. "Jake, what was that--?"

"We need to go. Now," he said. "She's not feeling well. We'll see her when she's better. Come on." He tried to lead Gideon away, but Gideon pulled back.

"Jake, what is going on?"

Jake stared at his beloved older brother, eyes fearful. "Nothing," he lied. "Nothing at all."

But over dinner, they heard the report on the radio that the police station had been attacked and burned. That firefighters were pulling out corpses covered in blood. Jake and Gideon exchanged glances over the dinner table. As Deborah howled with worry over poor Rachel, who had still been in the precinct, and Ben held her close to reassure her.

Jake shoved another spoonful of peas in his mouth.

* * *

"Anyone ever tell you that you cause a lot of trouble?" Frank demanded as he ran down another backstreet, pulling the giggling, blood-covered, little girl along.

"Maybe you should have killed me all the way, Daddy," Rachel laughed.

Frank threw her into a wall angrily. "You know, I consider that sometimes."

"Me, too," she mumbled quietly, her fingers slipping into her pocket.

Frank laughed. "Yeah? Maybe one day I'll finally take care of you, Rachel."

"No, Daddy," Rachel said, pulling out the shard of broken wood she'd pilfered at the police station. "You won't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know, "Daddy" was a pet name at the time for a man you were in a relationship with.


End file.
